Paulo Costa says his fight with Robert Whittaker is not official for UFC 284.
The promotion announced Costa (14-2 MMA, 6-2 UFC) will be facing Whittaker (24-6 MMA, 15-4 UFC) on Feb. 11 in Perth, Australia, but the Brazilian says he’s yet to receive or sign a contract for the fight.
“This fight is one of my favorite fights that I wanted to make because I appreciate the fighter that Robert is,” Costa told Submission Radio. “He’s very good. Since I saw him fight, I thought, I want to fight this guy because he’s savage, you know – he puts a lot of desire in his fights. So it should be a great fight, and I’d I love to make that fight. It’s one of my favorite fights to make, of course. But I don’t have any deal to do this fight. This is the bad part. I want to do this fight, but I don’t have a deal.
“UFC didn’t send me nothing – no contract, no offer yet. It’s a weird situation. I dunno what’s going on with the UFC. Because you guys know, the UFC used to publish some fights when the fight is close, when the deal is on. But it’s not in this case. They asked me about Robert, if I should fight him. I said, yes, of course. It’ll be a pleasure to fight him. But they didn’t send any offer to fight him yet.”
Costa, who’s coming off a unanimous decision win over Luke Rockhold at UFC 278 in August, has one fight remaining on his contract. But the former title challenger is not willing to sign for his fight against Whittaker unless he gets a bump up in pay.
“I want to know what happened. I have spoken with (UFC executive) Hunter (Campbell) some weeks ago – I think one week or two weeks ago – about my terms, my contract, not to fight Whittaker yet, but just because I have one fight more to fight to compete in UFC. And we just agreed my payment was so low. I have got this same payment since 2017, so it’s crazy. And I have fought the top five guys and I get money as a beginner. So he agreed. He said, ‘Yeah, it’s totally out of date – we need to update this.’
“But after that, they announced that fight against Robert. But I didn’t see any contract in my mail, on my table. I have nothing yet. I’m just waiting for Hunter to make his offer because he said, ‘OK, we’ll make another offer and you see what you think about it.’ You understand? I cannot still fight for free, bro. The time for fighting for free has gone. I love MMA, but I cannot just fight for the love. I have bills to pay.”
Costa’s patience is running thin, but he’s willing to wait until it’s two months out from his fight for a better deal.
“At least two months before the fight,” Costa said. “This is the last day. This is the date limit (Dec. 12).
“I really want to fight him, but it needs to be a fair deal, you understand? I have one more fight to do and that’s it. After that, I will be a free agent. And I think that if I don’t fight anyone, my contract finishes by time. Because after five years – I signed this deal in 2017, I think the middle of 2017, and this term, this contract finishes next year I think. So, I’m waiting for fair numbers and then we can fight. Just, the UFC needs to make that happen. I want to fight – especially Whittaker. He’s No. 1. It will be amazing to fight him and if I beat him, I will be in a very good position. But the UFC need to make that happen for the fans and the public watching the fight.”
